Supreme Court Decides to Keep Working During Summer Vacations

Five benches will sit to hear pending and fresh cases, not just urgent ones, till at least 19 June.

Supreme Court. (Image used for representational purposes). 

(Image altered by the Quint)

Following the decision of several high courts to cancel their scheduled summer vacations, the Supreme Court on Friday, 15 May, announced that it would keep working during its vacations, which were set to begin from Monday.

A ‘full court’ meeting of the judges (organised by circulation) decided to keep working as much as possible at least till 19 June.

Five benches of three judges each will hear pending and fresh matters, including urgent cases, via video conferencing.

The CJI will keep reviewing the situation and assess the need to keep the vacation in abeyance before 19 June, to decide whether the court will function during the rest of the vacations (scheduled to go on till 5 July).

Since 16 March, the Supreme Court has been hearing only urgent cases in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Following the imposition of the Delhi coronavirus lockdown at first and then the nationwide lockdowns, the apex court has been hearing urgent cases according to a protocol via video conferencing after e-filings.

The Delhi, Bombay, Gujarat and Madras High Courts had already announced that they would be cancelling their summer vacations prior to this.